Halo Twenty, Part Two
by hollywood7301
Summary: John goes flyin', and the gang is called back to Coruscant...


Disclaimer Time: Boring, I know, but necessary. Hmm, well it's probably easier this way, so I'll just list em. ME: John, the plane, and the plot (what there is of it). EVERYTHING ELSE: George "No DVD's for you!" Lucas and Lucasfilm.

This is a continuation of "A Small Navigational Error", following a Texas pilot who ends up on Naboo. To avoid confusion, read "A Small Navigational Error" first.

Many thanks to all who have given me feedback for "ASNE". Ya'll's comments are greatly appreciated. Also, an apology…I know I'm not writing a whole not, and a couple of people are wanting more (those poor folks) but real life's getting in the way A LOT these days. Oh, well… …and, yes, "Halo Twenty" is going to be a LOOOOONG story.

John does some flyin', and the boys are recalled to Coruscant.

Halo Twenty, Part Two.

**********************************************************************

Qui-gon glanced back at Obi-Wan, who was standing outside on the room's balcony. Obi-wan stood with his back to the window, casually leaning on the massive stone railing, his face lost in thought. Qui-gon sighed. The council's timing could have been better…

__

Those things cannot always be helped. But I would have liked to see that plane fly…

John's injuries had finally healed enough to let him return to the plains where he had put down his single-engine Piper, only to find that Anakin had been diligently working on repairing the damaged plane. _It was almost like a surprise party of sorts,_ thought Qui-gon, looking back down at the data that the council had sent them. He smiled as he recalled the look on his new friend's face as he slowly walked around the repaired plane, his head slowly shaking in disbelief. 

__

"Anakin, how did you do this?" John was squatting down by the gleaming new nosegear of the Piper, Anakin at his side. He looked intently at the hydraulic strut and then at the sandy-haired boy beside him. "This is…incredible…I mean…"

"Well, I looked over the components that were crunched and then figured out what needed to be…" The boy's earnest reply was cut off by a gentle interruption.

"Anakin…don't bother…" John chuckled. "I wouldn't really understand anyway…but thank you." He stood up and looked over the gleaming prop that was obviously machined from the palace's shop. John had a thought and turned to the two Jedi, who were standing with Queen Amidala, Rabe, Panaka and a few other security guards. "You two knew about this, huh?" Qui-gon and Obi-wan just grinned. 

"He did build the winning pod in the Boonta's eve race," the elder Jedi replied. "Of course, his engines were fifth-stage turbine-so I gave him permission to come out here and see if he could repair your plane. He did a fine job."

"Yeah, he did do that," John looked back down at the boy, and put his hand on his shoulder. "Well, Anakin? Would you like to go up with me? I'm guessin' you want to see what it's like…" He trailed off as the boy's eyes sparkled with excitement and as he turned to ask Qui-gon for permission. 

The Jedi Master smiled. "Yes, padawan, you may go with him. Be careful and enjoy yourse-" Qui-gon was interruped by his comm unit. "Yes?" He listened to the brief message and disconnected the link. "Obi-wan," he turned to his former padawan. " We must return to the palace. The council has sent a message for us to contact them. Your Highness, please excuse us."

"Of course, Master Jedi." The Queen nodded. " Is all well?"

"I believe so, your Highness, but I feel we should not waste time in contacting them." 

Anakin dutifully came back over to his master, disappointment vaugely etched on his face. Qui-gon was proud of the boy then, thinking that Anakin's eagerness and excitement hadn't overshadowed his sense of responsibility as a Jedi. "It's alright, Anakin. If you wish, you can stay here and come back to the palace with John. You have worked hard to repair his plane-enjoy the ride back. When you return, I will tell you what the council has called us for. Go on." Qui-gon smiled. "I would like a report of the flight when you return."

"Yes, Master." Anakin turned back toward the plane, his eyes dancing with excitement. 

******

They were still one-hundred hectmeres from Theed, at four thousand feet. _At least I think it's four thousand…_John had no idea what kind of setting he should use for his barometric altimeter, and ultimately decided to set it at the standard setting of 29.92. The Piper loped along at 110 knots indicated air speed, and the two airspeeders that carried the Queen and the others kept a loose formation with the single-engine plane. John had watched the two Jedi leave before him, and judging by their departure speed, knew that these two speeders could fly circles around the Piper.

"Well, Anakin…what do you think? I know it ain't a starship…" John wondered what _that_ would be like. He looked over at the boy sitting next to him, his ten-year old neck craning to see over the instrument panel. "…and it's certainly not a pod." 

Anakin had been quiet for most of the flight, except for a small whoop of joy as the plane rotated off of the grassy Naboo plain. John wondered if he was a little bored. After all, from what he could gather about these pod races, he figured that they traveled close to the speed of sound. _Of course he's bored, dumbass…would Richard Petty be impressed at riding in a Geo?_

"It's wizard…flying without repulsors, or antigrav lifts…relying completely on aerodynamics to stay in the air," Anakin looked over at him with a sense of excitement. "Even the most simple transports use repuslor lifts to move. This is just so…wizard! …What? Why are you laughing?"

"I'm sorry, Anakin…I forget sometimes that you're a lot smarter than the average kid." John was trying not to burst out laughing, and mostly failing. "Heck, I was still playing in the dirt when I was your age, not fixing planes and starships…" John paused. _Did I read him wrong? _He looked over at Anakin's face. The boy was looking up at him with a mixture of confusion and hurt. 

__

Damn, he was being sincere. 

"Anakin, I need to apologize. I wasn't making fun of you. I honestly thought that you'd be kind of bored after a while-I mean, you've raced pods and been in space…it was probably the wrong assumption. I forgot that you want to be a pilot, and that good pilots always get a thrill out of flying, no matter what they do it in."

He looked closely at the boy. Anakin's took in his apology in silence, and nodded. "It's okay." His face brightened back to his earlier enthusiasm. He looked at John earnestly. "Can I fly it for a little bit?"

John couldn't help but chuckle again. "Hmm…The winner of the Boonta's Eve pod race and the _pilot_ who saved the day against the Trade Federation wants to fly my plane?" John was laying it on thick, but he could see Anakin liked it. "Oh, sure…" John gestured to the yoke in front of Anakin. "You have the aircraft." As Anakin grabbed the yoke, John picked up the comm device Panaka had given him-the Piper's VHF radios were useless for communication-and spoke. "Hey guys, can we have a little room? We're gonna try something…"

He turned around to see the airspeeders pulling away from them, giving them a wide berth. "Well, Anakin…do you want-mmff-" John was pushed back against the window as Anakin pulled the plane in a forty-five degree right turn. "Anakin, you have to pull…" John stopped as after a couple of small hiccups in altitude, the young padawan sitting beside him was flying the plane like an experienced pilot, his head bobbing slightly as he looked around him outside and glancing back in at the instruments. 

Anakin turned and grinned at John as he reached for the throttle to increase the engine's power. As he turned the plane in a series of S-turns, John told him to pull up next to the Queen's speeder.

******

Amidala and Rabe sat in the back of the speeder, watching the Piper with interest. Rabe was wondering why John had asked them to give the plane some maneuvering room. She turned to the Queen as the plane was completing another series of turns. "Your Highness, what do you think they are doing?" She started musing about the wisdom involved in letting John and Anakin in the plane by themselves. "…after all, Your Highness, John's exobraces are still on, and if something were to happen…"

Behind Rabe's turned head, the plane pulled up and closed in alongside the airspeeder. Anakin looked over and with a wide grin, waved briefly at the Queen. Beside him, John held up both hands and pointed at Anakin in a universal gesture to show that the boy was flying the plane. He also flashed a silly grin at the occupants in the airspeeder. At this, the Queen started to smile. "Look, Rabe. It seems that our attention is wanted out the window." Rabe turned back to see the Piper a scant ten feet from the speeder, with John and Anakin clearly visible in the cockpit, waving at them and grinning from ear to ear.

The two started giggling as Anakin pointed back at John, indicating he was now flying the Piper. They watched the plane gracefully bank away and start to climb.

"This is great!" Anakin enthused, craning his head to look out the windows. Below them, the landscape of Naboo's central plains rolled gently towards the horizon, broken only by the Soru mountains to the west. A line of clouds were starting to build. _I wonder if-_

His thoughts were interrupted by Panaka's voice in the comm unit. "John, we've established contact with the Localizer beacon. We'll transmit the frequency to you when you get set up."

John picked up the comm unit and acknoledged Panaka, then glanced at Anakin. "Well, I guess it's time to head in…" Anakin started to reach into the back to grab the receiver unit that they would use as an aid to land the Piper. John stopped him. "Anakin, how about you fly us in, and line us up…and then I'll land. How's that?" Off of the boy's questioning look, John chuckled. "We'll do what's known in Earth aviation as a 'two-man cockpit.' We'll share the duties of flying the plane. You get us there, and I'll handle the navigation and comms. Then when we start our approach, I'll land the plane-with you helping me out with the altitude callouts and stuff. Deal?"

"Okay!" Anakin nodded. He took hold of the yoke and throttle and pondered what John had told him. It made sense, considering that the plane was largely non-computerized. _You had to land the plane visually!_ He thought it was pretty wizard, though. Just using the plane itself to fly, not repuslorlifts. Besides, John was letting him fly some more, and the young padawan was loving every minute of it. 

******

"What exactly is a Halo Deployer?" Obi-wan wanted to know. He was mulling over the information from the Council and was with his former master on a palace balcony overlooking Theed.

"I'm not sure, Obi-wan. I could be mistaken, but I think it was the main device of a terraforming method used long ago. I'm sure the Council will be able to provide us with more details when we reach Coruscant." He looked out over the city, bathed in the late afternoon sun, and sighed. 

Anakin would be less than pleased to find out they were to return to Coruscant. The boy had blossomed under Qui-gon's tutelage, meditating and practicing his skills in the palace. Over the past few weeks, Qui-gon had frequently taken his young padawan to the lower plains of the River Noms, where the Jedi master taught lessons on everything from emotions to the basics of lightsabers. Anakin had often expressed boundless enthusiasm when they would walk over to the top of the Noms waterfall and started climbing down the cliffs to the plains below. _Training at the temple will be different, Padawan…_

"There they are…" Obi-wan pointed across the city. The Piper and the two airpseeders were barely visible above the horizon.

"We should go if we wish to meet them at the landing site, Obi-wan." Qui-gon noted that the Piper its escort was rapidly growing larger, heading towards the city.

******

As the Piper flared and settled onto the makeshift runway, John sighed in relief. _I'm glad my second landing on this planet was better than my first. _As he slowed the plane down, the two airspeeders carrying the Queen and Panaka flew gracefully overhead, and started a slow bank towards the palace hangar.

Panaka's voice crackled on the comm unit. "We'll see you back at the palace. There's a speeder waiting for you to bring you back. Good flight." John let the boy handle the reply-he noticed the two Jedi were standing apart from a small group of technicians and guards who were waiting to take care of the plane. 

Two of the techs started waving towards him, directing him as to where they wanted him to stop. He already had the engine shut down and the propeller was stopped when he had Anakin pop the door open. As the plane rolled to a halt, Anakin clambered out onto the wing and waved to his Master with a grin. Qui-gon smiled and waved back. 

John glanced around the interior of the plane briefly. He let his eyes wander over the instruments, down to the switches that operated all of the systems on the plane. _Landing light off, nav lights off, strobes off…_his fingertips played over each of the switches as he went through his mental checklist. _…fuel pump off, master switch off….parking brake…and…that's it. _He wondered if this was the last time he was going to sit in this plane-it was, aside from a few personal effects-the only physical reminder he had of his home. 

He chuckled slightly…_a reminder of home, and it ain't even mine._

"I'm hoping to get a flight in it someday." Obi-wan said.

John looked up in surprise. He hadn't noticed Anakin hopping off of the wing once the plane was stopped, and Obi-wan climbing up on the wing. The Jedi was crouched on the wing, peering into the plane's cockpit with interest. He looked down at John, still in the left seat. "I'd say that this landing was better than the first one." 

John chuckled. "Yeah, you might say that. Back on earth, we've got a sayin'. 'Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.' " John grinned, and continued. "But there's another sayin' that goes, 'Any landing where you can use the plane again? That's a _great_ landing.'"

Obi-wan laughed and held out a hand. "Come. Qui-gon wants us to return to the palace as soon as possible." The Jedi helped John out onto the wing, and they hopped down onto the…tiles? John looked down at what appeared to be large stone tiles that paved the large surface area he had landed on. He looked around. The deserted avenue he had landed on was starting to fill up with people, wandering around, some walking over to take a look at the curious craft that had landed on their street.

John realized that the "runway" he had landed on was in fact a large pedestrian mall in the heart of Theed. He turned to Obi-wan. "So, where's the plane going to-"

He stopped as he saw a large building behind them opening up. _Oh…a hangar…well, not a hangar, exactly. _It appeared to be a large indoor patio area, and the space that had been cleared for the Piper was in plain view.

Qui-gon and Anakin came walking up, the boy still excitedly telling his master about the plane ride. "Don't worry. The Queen said it will be well taken care of."

John nodded. "That's very…uh…generous of her." He glanced back at the Piper, now being surrounded by the technicians who were pulling the engine cowlings off to see how their repairs held up.

"Come. We need to return to the palace." Qui-gon said. "Our transport will be here in the morning." He gestured to a speeder nearby, and off of John's questioning look, said, "I'll explain on the way to the palace."

******

"I don't approve of the Jedi Council's recall of you to Coruscant, but I hope to see you all here again soon. I have decreed that you are all honored citizens of Theed, and hope that you will consider Naboo a home to you." The queen said to her guests who would be leaving in a few hours. She looked over at John and Anakin, who were sitting on a bench with Rabe. "Especially the two of you."

They were all sitting on one of the palace's many balconies, overlooking Theed. The queen had dinner brought to them on the balcony, and now that dinner had been eaten, everyone was content to sit and watch the sun set and talk.

"Thank you, your Highness. I don't know how I can repay the generosity you've shown me." John nodded. "It is beautiful here-I hope I can return one day."

"John…please." The queen frowned briefly in mock frustration. "You _can_ call me Padme, if you wish. In fact, I'd prefer it while we're here."

"Well, your Highness…_Padme_…" John grinned and gestured towards the handmaiden sitting next to him. "I would have, but Rabe here said she'd feed me to the goober fish-" Rabe's eyes grew wide at this. "-if I didn't address you as 'Your highness.'" He laughed.

"I said no such thing!" Rabe lightly smacked him on his left arm. She groaned in frustration and turned to see the Queen, Anakin and the two Jedi laughing. 

Anakin stood up and walked over and sat down next to the Queen. As soon as he did, John could tell that they were probably going to be stuck together for the rest of the evening. He smiled. He had noticed, like the Jedi and the Queen's handmaidens had, the very obvious connection between the Queen and the boy. He leaned over to Rabe. "It's almost like they're in their own little world, isn't it?" he said _sotto voce_.

She nodded and smiled. "It is. You should hear her speak of him." 

"Oh, really?" John grinned. "So, _what_ or _who_ else do ya'll speak of when it's just the handmaidens and the Queen?" Rabe laughed and shook her head. "Gods, you are incorrigible!" They stood up and walked over to the balcony railing where Qui-gon and Obi-wan joined them.

The four of them talked until long after dark, telling stories and tales. Obi-wan told John about his childhood in the temple, and his experiences with some of the various council members. As they said their goodnights, John and Rabe shared a look; Anakin and the Queen were still talking away, simply content to be near each other.

******

John walked out onto the balcony of his room and watched the sun rise over the distant Soru mountains. He yawned. Sleep was elusive last night, his mind was racing too much to let him drift off. _Well, I guess I can always sleep on the way there…_

"Good morning." He turned to see Rabe walking out on the balcony, carrying two cups of stim-tea.

"Good morning yourself," he said back. He grinned inwardly. He had been laying in bed last night-for a few hours, it had seemed-when he felt himself finally drifting off. He heard the slightest of noises, and barely cracked one eye open. At the door to his room, he saw Rabe, silently closing the door behind her. Closing his eye, he pretended to sleep. He felt her walk up to the bed and silently study him, to see if he was sleeping well. After a moment, he felt her hand, cool against his forehead. She held it there, then pulled her hand away, satisfied that he was sleeping well. When he opened his eyes a moment later, she had already gone from his room. _She's still checking up on me, making sure I'm alright…_

He looked at her. "Rabe, I know I've said it before, but…thanks. Thank you. I'm not sure how I would have recovered without my 'mother hen'." He grinned.

"You needn't bother with that," Rabe smiled and blushed slightly. "It was my job, but…I will miss you. I hope you enjoy Coruscant."

He walked over to her and hugged her. "Hey. Don't sweat it... I'll come back sooner than you think-I do like it here, you know. And, yes, I will miss you, too." They stood there for a moment, holding the hug. She pulled away, vague disappointment in her face. They heard a whine, and looked out over the plains to see a Republic corvette ship on approach to the palace's landing area.

They hugged again, then turned and walked down to the landing area to meet the others.

******

"We wish you well, honored Jedi. May you have a safe journey. And to the heros of Theed, we wish you well…" The queen was in her formal robes and makeup, giving them an official sendoff. "We hope for your safe passage, and a safe return soon, for you are all sons of Naboo."

Qui-gon bowed. "Thank you, your Highness. May the force be with you. …Farewell." His padawan and Obi-wan bowed as well, and John thought he saw Anakin shoot a departing smile at the Queen.

"I am in your debt for your hospitality, your Highness. Thank you, and…uh…" John frowned. He wasn't real good speaking this formally or stiffly. "…well," he started again, sincerely, "I hope to return soon. Goodbye, and uh…God bless." _Yeah, Johnnie-boy, you're a REAL natural at this…_ He turned to Rabe. "Bye, Rabe. Take care, okay?" She stepped to him and hugged him briefly-and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek-and stepped back.

The four turned and walked up the ramp of the Republican ship, it's engines already powered back up and ready for lift-off.

__

Man, space travel…ain't that a trip? John thought. _Coruscant…one big city? _

Hell, I've never even been to New York….

TO BE CONTINUED…

…SOONER, RATHER THAN LATER, I HOPE…


End file.
